The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997. It is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. As of 2011, there were over 1,000 registered USAFL players. There are 50 member clubs, of which 48 have men's teams (all except North Star Blue Ox and the Centennial Tigers) and 27 have women's teams. Most of the football clubs in the United States have a traditional 18-a-side team for representative purposes and multiple 9-a-side teams running in a local league. Each year the USAFL holds a National club championship, a tournament open to all clubs across the nation, the largest of its type in the world for the sport. In addition to the Nationals, the USAFL holds major regional tournaments including the Central, East and West regional tournaments. The USAFL selects the national men's ( USA Revolution) and women's (

USA Freedom The United States women's Australian Rules football team, also nicknamed USA Freedom represents the United States in the sport of women's Australian rules football. The USA Freedom was founded in 2007 as the USAFL Women's National Team. The te ...

) teams for competitions such as the

Australian Football International Cup The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup or simply the IC) is a triennial international Australian rules football sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournament in the sport and is open to ...

and the

49th Parallel Cup The 49th Parallel Cup (formerly PanAm Cup) is an annual representative Australian rules football match between the United States and Canada first contested in 1999. Since 2007 the women's teams have also contested the cup. The men's matches are ...

History

The first match between two local US clubs was played in 1996 between

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. In the first year the

Mid American Australian Football League The MAAFL was a division of the United States Australian Football League and an Australian rules football competition based in the United States. The league formed 1996 when clubs from Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville played the f ...

was formed. Many of the local players had found out about the game in the 1980s on television via the then-nascent ESPN cable network. Although the local game grew, ESPN no longer broadcast AFL matches, and in response the lobby group,

Australian Football Association of North America The Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) is a non-profit organization that formed out of the campaign to save television coverage of Australian rules football in the United States and Canada in 1996. AFANA has an emphasis on th ...

was formed. In 1997, the first club national championships were held in Cincinnati. Nashville hosted the first Australian Grand Final Festival in the same year. The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) was formed in 1997 to govern the code in the country. The involvement of many well-known Australians has helped boost the relations between the USAFL and AFL. In the early days, Paul Roos was a key figure.

Robert DiPierdomenico Berto "Robert" DiPierdomenico (born 5 May 1958) is a retired Australian rules footballer who represented in the Australian Football League (AFL) from the 1970s to the 1990s. Popularly known by his nickname "Dipper", DiPierdomenico is one of th ...

Leigh Matthews Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the . Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the ic ...

and

Michael Voss Michael Voss (born 7 July 1975) is a former professional Australian rules football player with the Brisbane Bears/Lions and current senior coach of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Voss was a triple premiersh ...

are official USAFL ambassadors.

National teams

USAFL is responsible for the co-ordination of the National Teams, the USA Revolution men's team and the USA Freedom women's team. The team plays in international tournaments and

exhibition match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es against other countries. National team players are selected from the best US-born players from the club teams across the country. With close proximity to Canada, the Revolution & Freedom participate in the annual

against Canada each year except for years of the

International Cup The Australian Football International Cup (also known as the AFL International Cup or simply the IC) is a triennial international Australian rules football sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournament in the sport and is open to ...

in Australia. The Revolution competed in the

2002 Australian Football International Cup The 2002 Australian Football International Cup was the inaugural international Australian rules football tournament held in Melbourne, Australia in 2002. 11 nations participated from around the world and the tournament was officiated by the In ...

, finishing 5th out of 11 countries and in the

2005 Australian Football International Cup The 2005 Australian Football International Cup was the second time that the Australian Football International Cup tournament, an international Australian rules football competition was held. The event was hosted by both Melbourne and Wangaratta ...

finishing 3rd out of 10 countries. They competed in the

2008 Australian Football International Cup The 2008 Australian Football International Cup was the third time the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition, has been contested. It was scheduled for 2008 (as part of the 150th year cele ...

where the Revolution finished 7th out of 16 countries. At the

2011 Australian Football International Cup The 2011 Australian Football International Cup (or IC21) is the fourth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League. It was contested between ...

, the Revolution finished 4th in an increased field of 18 countries. The Revolution finished 8th at the

2014 Australian Football International Cup The 2014 Australian Football International Cup was the fifth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League. It was contested between Saturday ...

, again with 18 countries participating.

Domestic tournaments and competitions

USAFL National Championships The USAFL National Championships is a tournament for Australian rules football in the United States. Since 1997, the National Championships have been a large event featuring teams from the United States and Canada in four men's divisions and t ...

USAFL East vs West An Australian rules football tournament in the United States, similar to the National Basketball Association All-Star Game. Pitches 44 of the best players in the USA against each other. The first of these games was held in 2003, and it became a ...

USAFL clubs and representative sides

Football Map

USAFL Teams

Associate Members (via AFL Canada)

Previous clubs

Affiliated leagues

Eastern Australian Football League The Eastern Australian Football League is an Australian rules football competition in the Eastern United States of America and a division of the United States Australian Football League. History In the early months of 2005, member clubs of t ...

Southern California Australian Football League Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

References

External links

* {{Top sport leagues in the United States Australian rules football governing bodies outside Australia Aus Sports organizations established in 1997